1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to liquid applying apparatuses and methods for maintaining the liquid applying apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of inkjet recording apparatuses such as printers, it is known to pretreat (or pre-coat) a recording medium with a liquid for coagulating a color material of ink in order to prevent image errors such as bleeding, variations in density and color tones, and show-through and to improve print quality. In a known pre-coating method, a coating liquid contained in a feeding pan is applied to the entire surface of a recording medium by a roller of a coating-liquid applying apparatus.
Generally, such a coating-liquid applying apparatus is regularly inspected by a service person at a frequency of, for example, two times per month. Also, an operator does not generally cause the coating-liquid applying apparatus to execute jobs during the regular inspection by the service person.
In the related-art technology, when the liquid level of a feeding pan of a coating-liquid applying apparatus does not rise or fall even after a predetermined period of time from the start of a supply operation or a discharge operation, it is assumed that the coating-liquid applying apparatus has failed and a time-out error is reported. In response to the time-out error, an operator calls a service person to repair the coating-liquid applying apparatus separately from the regular inspection (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-044647 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-201234).